Talk:Benny Hill

Notable works

Re the recent edit summary ("notable work" is a POV description [these listings where probably cherry-picked based on someone's personal taste], and it's better to discuss works in article prose anyway instead of overstuffing the infobox) by User:‎SNUGGUMS: I don't object to your edit, but a work is indubitably notable if it has an article on Wikipedia. I note all involved works have just that, blue links. Ergo characterizing them as "notable works" would be uncontroversially true. Merry Christmas, y'all. CapnZapp (talk) 16:35, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Whether they have articles wasn't the point of my edit; whoever inserted them was problematically implying only certain works mattered. I strongly suspect they simply added their personal favorites into the field. SNUGGUMS (talk / edits) 17:36, 19 December 2021 (UTC)

Again, I don't object to your edit. I will comment on your edit summary. "notable work" is not a "POV description". Each work with a Wikipedia article is notable, and we have many articles where editors curate a selection of works by the article subject without having to base that selection on a source. Please do boldly edit such a selection, just as you did, and the previous editor did too. But please do not cast aspersions on that previous work: with a phrase like "[was] probably cherry-picked" you were insinuating that selection was somehow inferior because it was based on personal taste, which reveals a lack of understanding of our job as fellow editors. You should exercise your personal taste when you improve Wikipedia! And if I should later "mercilessly edit" your contributions, you don't want me to justify my edits by "SNUGGUM used his personal taste (and his taste is poor and unrefined)", do you? Have a nice day, CapnZapp (talk) 15:30, 20 December 2021 (UTC)

Add a mention of the video game

See Benny Hill's Madcap Chase. 2A00:23C5:FE18:2700:91E9:78E9:DDF4:AE21 (talk) 12:45, 12 March 2022 (UTC)

Celebrity fans

I am removing the Chaplin reference, and that is for two reasons: First, because I had e-mail contact with the estate and they did not recognise this story at all. They went as far as to say that Chaplin PROBABLY knew Hill existed. Second, while the story (more or less) IS indeed mentioned in an episode of "living famously", like the footnote says, that doesn't mean that it's true. A friend and admirer of Hill gives some anecdotal evidence - quite possibly he's more interested in idolising his hero than strict regard for objective truth. Just because someone says something somewhere, doesn't mean it had to be accepted as fact. (In fact "celebrity fans" is in general very prone to unreliability; for example they say Elvis loved Monty Python and the holy grail but things should be proven first, not disproven.) Spiny Norman (talk) 20:27, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

PS Also, when Eugene Chaplin (a first hand source) is seen speaking to and about Hill in "Clown Imperial", the 1991 documentary, the alleged fandom of Charlie Chaplin is not mentioned. Spiny Norman (talk) 21:14, 11 December 2022 (UTC)

Hill was gay rumor, unreliable source

The citation in the small section mentioning rumors of Mr. Hill’s sexuality is questionable, in part bc it doesn’t it’s any primary sources for this information, and additionally states bizarrely biased claims such as the reasons behind his Thames programme’s declining ratings:

“By the 1990s, the hugely popular Benny Hill Show was being politely censored by influence from a new, highly influential nemesis: the feminists. The "femi-nazis" and the newest fad of the time, "political correctness" had raised its horrible, intimidating head. Benny found his once-popular show being canceled in several countries. The hard-hearted feminists couldn't stand seeing Benny running around with beautiful, young girls in their meager attire.”

This is nothing but an (pointed) opinion citing no sources for numerous things, and thusly should not be considered as a source for any information in this Wikipedia entry. 2603:7080:A507:A9EF:95E2:ECAC:B6CB:46CC (talk) 18:45, 29 December 2022 (UTC)

I think the key to this is his frugality. In my youth I was often told "don't get married son, you'll never have any money". So, he was heterosexual but would not get married beacuse he was too mean with his money. 2A02:C7C:59DD:E900:B40B:A45:F481:7527 (talk) 18:19, 29 September 2023 (UTC)

That is false. This article points out, "He had proposed [marriage] to three women, but none accepted." Mucketymuck (talk) 00:05, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

First movie hacker?

I believe that Hill's role as the computer hacker "The Professor" in "The Italian Job" 1969 makes him the first actor to play a hacker in a movie. Any reliable sources for this, please? There were earlier computing plots in movies (e.g. "The Billion Dollar Brain" 1967) but not, AFAIK, actors specifically cast as technicians who deliberately subverted computers to their will. Andrew Oakley (talk) 15:03, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

Benny Hill Show content

Humbledaisy undid my revision of November 2024 almost as soon as I’d made it, but ought to have either (1) done so only selectively or (2) explained the rationale for undoing all of it.

I’ll accept that, as Humbledaisy objected, “although he appeared in several films, he is best remembered for The Benny Hill Show” may sound unsuitably apologetic, with its subordinated clause. But I also altered that show’s description in the lead section from “an amalgam of slapstick, burlesque and double entendre in a format that included live comedy and filmed segments, with Hill at the focus of almost every segment” to “a comedy-variety show whose amalgam of slapstick, burlesque, and double entendre, in a format that included both live and filmed segments, featured Hill himself at the focus of almost every segment.”

Note how the former is worded: “a format that included live comedy and filmed segments.” Were the filmed segments not comedy? No, they were comedy, either invariably or nearly so. Come to that, were the live segments all comedy? No, for musical acts often appeared, in particular (as I pointed out in justifying my November edit) the Ladybirds. For the latter reason, my edit also used “comedy-variety” to depict Hill’s signature show, the show for which I also called him “best remembered” rather than just "remembered" (even with his movie roles and earlier popular television performances), since that show had a decadeslong run. (The WP page on The Benny Hill Show itself does call it simply a comedy programme, but such descriptions tend to vary a bit among different WP pages.)

Hence, I’ve reinstated my edit, save for the mention of films. If Humbledaisy or any other WP editor sees fit to retract it, let them spell out their basis for each part of the retraction. Some WP editors use too free a hand. Mucketymuck (talk) 00:03, 3 April 2025 (UTC)